


Flower Child

by Larryshipper17



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-18 13:17:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1429915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larryshipper17/pseuds/Larryshipper17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has a rough break up and ends up at a carnival. He finds peace in the butterfly tent, and the butterfly tent keeper, Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis looked around, recognizing the children's carnival he had so often visited as a kid. He didn't quite know how he had gotten here but he figured it was as good a distraction as any. He paid for a ticket and began to walk around. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, it was in fact a  _kids_ carnival and he, at 23, was a grown ass adult. It was also kind-of pathetic that he was here, wandering around alone. Louis wasn't good at being alone. That must be why he always went back to Stan. Not this time.

He bought himself an ice cream cone for the heartache and sat on a bench. He didn't want to think about it but somehow he couldn't push it out of his mind.

He promised himself, this was the last time he and Stan were going to break up. They were always the on again off again couple and Louis was frankly sick of it. Plus the pity and annoyance from his friends and family every time they broke up or got back together was getting to be too much. So when Stan had suggested another break Louis had made it permanent. For sure this time. Stan had started to take everything he had said, not wanting to permanently break up just "give them a chance to experiment a bit." Louis had decided that was definitely not what he wanted and he thought Stan sounded like a pretty big asshole if he wanted to experiment around and then crawl back into bed with Louis. So Louis had left and walked wherever his feet had carried him, apparently the carnival, his favorite place as a child. Kids were running around, dragging their parents behind them from ride to ride. Louis longed to be so young and carefree again. At least he had his ice cream to comfort him.

A little girl ran past him with a butterfly painted on her face. Louis stood up. He had loved the butterfly tent as a child, he hoped it was still here. Wandering up and down the aisles he saw a tent at the end of one. He walked towards it and saw the colorful wings inside. He smiled and pushed inside. It was warm, trapping the air from outside in the tent. Flowers and plants organized the tent into rows. And the butterflies. There were hundreds. On the sides, on the ceiling, on the plants. They fluttered around and Louis breathed in. He felt more calm then he had in a very long time. He began to walk up one of the rows, watching the creatures crawl around the flowers. 

"You do know this is a children's carnival right?"

Louis spun around, ready to snap at whoever was pestering him. His words failed him however as he scanned the boy in front of him. The look of the boy did not match the rich, chocolatey voice that had just spoken. He looked about the same age as Louis. Louis quickly checked him up and down. Unkempt brown curls fell from every which way from his head. A couple had slipped down to cover his forehead. His clear skin was glowing with the smirk that hadn't left since his first quip. The smirk was matched in a sparkle in his eyes. Louis paused at those eyes for what seemed like days. They were green but Louis couldn't determine much beyond that fact. Weather they were dark green or light green he couldn't really tell. They stared at him with purpose and intent though. And the rest of his face was just as magnificent as those eyes. Big lips that curved into that smirk, not a mean smirk, more like joking and playful. Louis' eyes traveled down the rest of the boys' body. It was lanky and long in all the wrong places but somehow put together he looked like a model. A band tshirt was fitted over his tattooed biceps and they fell over light wash jean shorts. His legs poked out and were tucked in a very old pair of vans. Over it all was an apron that would have looked quite ridiculous on anyone else but Louis thought he pulled it off quite nicely. Overall he shouldn't have been as attractive as he was, but somehow when you put all the awkward bits together they made a beautiful man. A beautiful man who Louis still had to respond to.

"Could say the same thing to you, mate" Louis said, feeling a small smirk spreading over his own lips.

"Ah yes, but I, unlike you, am working here" Louis was scared of what he would say next "What are you doing here?"

And there it was. Louis felt his smirk fade. What was he doing here? He was alone now. He had no Stan, he didn't necessarily want him back either. But he also had no friends. For the most part all of their friends had been couple friends. They would probably be on Stan's side. So  now...he was alone. Which normally he didn't mind, but he did that by choice. Now he was alone by force. 

He realized the boy was still waiting for an answer so Louis replied "Getting away."

The boy's smile faded too and a look of concern crossed his face "Oh. Uh, jeez sorry mate, I didn't mean to intrude..."

Louis waved his concerns away "You didn't, don't worry about it. Really" the boy smiled at him, "I'm just going to have a look around then. Helps calm me down and all" Louis smiled back.

The boy nodded and backed away, going back to watering the flowers or whatever he had been doing before Louis came in. Louis wandered around the tent and took in the colorful wings that fluttered lightly about him. After 30 minutes of it he really did begin to calm down. He had spent the last couple minutes looking at a brilliant black and blue butterfly when he heard that voice again.

"That ones baeotus baeotus"

The sudden sound made the butterfly take flight but Louis turned around smiling anyways.

"Really useful fact, thanks"

The boy just smiled at him and Louis noticed how perfect his dimples looked. He hadn't noticed them before and now he wondered how he hadn't. They were huge and took up almost the entirety of his face. They were also kind of perfect. Louis looked down at his feet feeling a slight blush on his cheeks.

"If you know, uh want to talk I have break coming up. I'm starving anyways"

Louis looked back up into that brilliant smile "Thanks, but I really should get going" Louis began walking towards the exit.

The boy's smile drooped a bit "Yeah, sure" 

When Louis looked over his shoulder at the boy his heart dropped a bit. The smile was completely gone and the boy was staring at the floor. Louis wanted to say yes but he truthfully had to get going. He had shit to figure out, like how he was going to get his stuff without Stan there. He was about to walk out of the carnival when he saw a food stand. Without a second thought he went up and scanned the menu. Buying a pretzel he nearly ran back to the butterfly tent.

The boy was back to tending to the flowers and Louis walked over. He tapped him on the shoulder and watched his slow smile spread over that beautiful face. His green eyes sparkled again as they met Louis'. "Since I couldn't stick around I bought you this, thanks for the offer though" Louis shoved the pretzel at the boy.

The boy nodding took it "Thanks..uh...?"

"Louis"

"Louis" the boy repeated in that deep silky voice, smiling "quite a pretty name, fits you well. I'm Harry"

Louis laughed "Well thank you Harry" And with that he turned and walked again towards the exit. Just as he was about to leave the boy- Harry called out.

"See you around, Louis"

Louis nodded, not quite trusting himself to respond, and left the tent.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Louis went back to that carnival every day that week. He had to go when he didn't have work but he went during lunch a few days and after work when he had lunch time meetings. Louis would pay for his ticket and walk into the carnival. He always bought a pretzel and headed straight for the butterfly tent. The first time he walked in after the day he learned the beautiful boy's name he had been shocked Louis had come back. His shock quickly turned to happiness and then pure giddiness as he saw the pretzel. Louis would buy him all the pretzels in the world to see that smile more. The smile with the dimples that Louis always lost himself in and Harry would have to call his name repeated times to bring him back to reality.

They could chat almost constantly as the butterfly tent was usually unoccupied and when people came in they usually just wandered through and left quickly. Harry taught him the names of lots of the butterflies and even though Louis forgot them by that night he still appreciated it. They talked too, about more than butterflies. Harry spoke about his family and friends. He was a second year uni student studying business and didn't really know what he wanted to do yet, but he really really liked people. He had a dog and loved animals. His favorite movie was star wars and Louis thought he had impeccable music taste. Louis told him about his really boring job at an investment company and his pretty boring flat and his pretty boring life in general. Louis thought his whole life was generally bland, like he was just going through the movements every day, a puppet on strings that was repeating the same motions every 24 hours. Harry at least acted fascinated though and asked him questions that Louis would turn into stupid jokes they would laugh at together. They seemed to be friends, Harry even calling him Lou. Louis loved that, not that he would ever admit it to even himself.

It was the third or fourth day that Louis and Harry sat talking. They had fallen silent after laughing particularly hard at some stupid joke about butterflies Harry had made. The silence wasn't uncomfortable though, it was friendly and didn't bother either of them as they munched on the pretzel they shared. 

"So Lou," Harry began after a few minutes of silence. He looked down at his lap before continuing "are you ever going to tell me what you were upset about that first day you came in?"

Louis bristled. He hadn't even really thought about the break up since it happened. He normally wasn't the type to mourn and cry over exes but to have no grieving process at all...Louis figured their relationship had been broken for so long. They had been broken up in Louis' mind for months, just doing the normal relationship things, more repetitive motions that seemed to make up Louis' life. And finally he had broken out of that rut. And even though the rest of his life; his work, his eating habits, his vacations; was a rut he felt pretty free. He didn't even think he really missed Stan, he had gotten over him months ago when their relationship had metaphorically ended in Louis' thoughts. He couldn't pinpoint the actual ending point, but it was probably sometime between when they had had another break up and when they fell into bed together making up. He hadn't realized it, but it had been nearly a week and Louis hadn't spared more than a couple thoughts towards Stan. He cursed him when he found Stan's dirty underwear under the couch when Louis had been looking for the remote. He laughed at the cereal Stan kept at Louis' place. Some stupid granola was lots of fiber that Stan claimed was the healthiest food on the planet. Louis thought it looked like twigs and pebbles and it tasted even worse. Louis shook his head at the organic shampoo in his shower Stan had left there and he smiled when he threw it out. 

Other than that he had been doing well. He hadn't been crying 24 hours a day and he had only eaten one pint of ice cream, much less than he normally ate in a typical week. He had even checked out the bartender when he went out with Niall, a mate from work, one night. Niall claimed the bartender had checked him out too. 

"Lou?"

Oh right, reality.

"Right..erm well I broke up with my boyfriend" Harry raised his eyebrows "Oh yeah, I'm gay, sorry it didn't come up. But yeah we broke up and I made it final. We were one of those on again off again couples. And it was just too much. And I'm happy we're done, but it's just weird to be with someone for four years and then it just ends and you're alone. It was just a bit overwhelming I guess so I was sorting through stuff?" Louis concluded.

Harry nodded. Louis suddenly got concerned. That had probably been a lot to take in at once. He had not only told Harry about his messy breakup and his messy life but he had spit out he was gay. What if Harry didn't like gays? What if he threw holy water and cursed Louis and his kind? It wouldn't be the first time but Louis was really starting to like Harry. He was a great listener and told funny jokes. Louis thought he was a cool dude and a cool friend. But now, what if he ruined that?

Just as Louis was about to apologize and excuse himself to go change his address and name and never have to feel the embarrassment of seeing Harry again he realized Harry was already in the middle of another story.

"So he calls me and wants to get back together, again. He thinks that this itty bitty bouquet of roses is going to make up for me walking in on him balls deep in another guy!" Harry laughed at the memory, like it was a funny story instead of him walking in on being cheated on.

Louis' mouth fell open "What?"

"My boyfriend, well my ex-boyfriend, was always breaking up with me and wanting to get back together and then doing stupid stuff. I finally called it off completely when he cheated."

"You're...you're gay?"

"Well yeah. Mate, look around," Harry gestured around the tent, "I work at a children's carnival, in the  _butterfly_ tent no less. That really wasn;t the point of the story though..." Harry trailed off quietly even though he was grinning at Louis, watching the pieces start to fit together.

"Oh.  _Oh..."_  Louis paused and then suddenly remembered his manners "I'm sorry about your boyfriend, that's really terrible"

Harry shrugged "Meh, it was time to get out of that relationship anyways," Louis nodded, appreciating what that felt like, "It was also a while ago, whereas your break up is new, are you okay?" Harry gently touched his hand to Louis' shoulder.

Louis frowned at the question but leaned into the touch. Harry didn't remove his hand. "That's kind of a complicated question. But yes I think so. I think I was over him before we even ended. Like I fell out of love with him months before I broke up with him finally. It's weird to adjust to being alone again but I don't miss him, maybe just the relationship stuff I guess"

Harry nodded "Well you should probably get going Lou?" Confused, Louis looked into Harry's eyes. Harry was kicking him out? What the fuck? "Whenever you come for lunch you always leave at 12:50 to get back to the office, it's 1:20 now" Harry finished.

Oh. Well that's much better. Harry was looking out for him, Louis felt himself blush. Then he realized. "Shit! Sorry right I'll see you later ya?" Louis ran around grabbing his stuff. He picked up his jacket and keys, grabbed his wallet and then frantically went on a search for his phone. 

Harry handed it out to him and smiled "I put my number in if you ever want to talk. I have great advice, butterfly tent tenders are basically therapists you know."

Louis laughed and grabbed his phone. He pulled Harry into a hug without thinking twice. Harry stiffened but then wound his hands around Louis. "Thanks" Louis whispered into his ear, sending shivers down Harry. 

Louis ran out of the tent and all the way to his car and sped to work. He was a bit late but he had just gotten a huge investment so all was forgiven with a wave of the boss' hand. He settled into his desk to check the stocks and how everything was shaking out today. 

Pulling out his phone he scrolled through until he saw Harry's name with a little emoticon butterfly next to the name.

_Do you even like pretzels?_

He sent it and went back to work until Thursday concluded and he went home to his boring flat at the end of a not so boring week.

 


End file.
